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Editing rtorrent.rc to allow more options

Rtorrent is a fairly powerful torrent client with many features not in use by default, being a command line application changing settings require you to edit a file on your slot while rtorrent is shutdown. Without this method any changes made using the Webui companion RUtorrent will be lost whenever you next restart the rtorrent process.

Editing the settings can cause issues if done incorrectly and Ultra.cc cannot support modifications done to rtorrent.rc.

You will need to use SSH in order to follow this guide.

Backing up your original file before editing

If this is your first time editing values in rtorrent it is best to first create a copy so it can be restored should anything go wrong.

This can totally break your rtorrent installation BACKUP is a MUST.

Your .rtorrent.rc is located in your home folder so it is simple to backup in one command

cp ~/.rtorrent.rc .rtorrent.rc.bk

This will leave you with two files now rtorrent.rc and .rtorrent.rc.bk

If you make a mistake on the original file you can easily revert back by running the following commands

rm ~/.rtorrent.rc

cp ~/.rtorrent.rc.bk ~/.rtorrent.rc

This keeps the backup intact so you wont need to backup again until you settle on your working modified version.

Now that the file is safe we can begin to dig into the file but before doing so you must stop rutorrent/rtorrent via your control panel it is considered a good measure to pause your active torrents before stopping rtorrent/rutorrent as it will be quicker when starting again.

Return to you SSH client and open up the .rtorrent.rc file.

nano .rtorrent.rc

Now what you see is the current configuration, don’t worry as any changes can be added to a new line at the bottom

Options Available

Adding new watch Directory with RUtorrent label

You may need to create the watch directories you plan on using before you can make the changes this can be done with this command

mkdir -p ~/watch2 changing the path ~/watch2 to whatever you’d like to call your new watch directory


schedule =
watch_directory_2,5,5,load.start=~/watch2/*.torrent,d.set_custom1=watch2"

schedule =
watch_directory_3,5,5,load.start=~/watch3/*.torrent,d.set_custom1=watch3"

schedule =
watch_directory_4,5,5,load.start=~/watch4/*.torrent,d.set_custom1=watch4"

To help explain what the above is actually telling rtorrent we can easily break it down

schedule = watch_directory Explains the kind of instruction you are passing to rtorrent

_2,5,5 Now this is important, notice in the example above that the first number in the sequence is rising with each watch folder you must make sure that each watch folder you add has the following number

load.start=~/ load.start=~/watch2/*. start download instruction and the path to the folder to watch for .torrent files (setting the value `load.start to load.normal will cause torrents to be added in a “Paused” state)

d.set_custom1=watch3" Direction to create a label for any files found in the watch directory specified in the line.

Once your modification is completed press Ctrl+X then Press Y and then Enter to confirm and save

Move completed files to Folder matching Label Number

Building on the above it is possible to move completed downloads to a folder matching your label name.

For example we want all files under our new watch folder “watch2” to be stored in a folder called watch2 inside our ~/files directory. This will actually apply to any labels you are using so please keep this in mind before making the change bellow.

Paste this code under your watch directory code and Save.

method.insert = d.get_finished_dir,simple,"cat=~/files/,$d.get_custom1="
method.set_key =
event.download.finished,move_complete,"d.set_directory=$d.get_finished_dir=;execute=mkdir,-p,$d.get_finished_dir=;execute=mv,-u,$d.get_base_path=,$d.get_finished_dir="

Rtorrent/rutorrent can now be started

The changes will only apply to any future torrents so it is a good idea to now give this a test by placing a .torrent file into your new watch directory.

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